Hikoemon turned around and took Mosuke, the head page, to task. In turn, Mosuke yelled at the pages in the company. 'Quiet! An army advances with dignity!'
When Hideyoshi asked what had happened, Hikoemon looked embarrassed. 'Since I allowed the pages to ride, they're frolicking around in the ranks as though they were on a picnic. They're making a lot of noise and joking with each other, and even Mosuke is unable to control them. Perhaps it's better to make the pages walk, after all.'
Hideyoshi forced a laugh and looked back. 'They're in high spirits because they're young, and their playfulness would probably be difficult to control. Let them be. Nobody's fallen off his horse yet, has he?
'It seems that the youngest of them, Sakichi, is not used to riding, and someone thought it would be fun to make him fall off.'
'Sakichi fell off his horse? Well, that's good training too.'
The army marched on. The road entered Harima, and they finally arrived at Kasuya in the evening, just as they had planned.
Unlike Shibata Katsuie's gloomy leadership, which only respected regulations and form, or Nobunaga's severity and rigor, Hideyoshi's style of command was distinguished by one characteristic: cheerfulness. No matter what sort of hardship or desperate fighting beset his troops, they still radiated that cheerfulness and a harmonious sense that the entire army was one family.
Thus, while it was easy for this group of pages, made up of boys from eleven to sixteen, to disrupt military discipline, Hideyoshi, as the 'head of the family,' would just wink and say, 'Let them be.'
It began to grow dark as the vanguard quietly entered Harima, an allied province the middle of enemy territory. At a loss concerning what action to take, and under heavy pressure from their neighbors, the people of this province now lit bonfires and welcomed Hideyoshi's troops.
Hideyoshi's forces had taken the first step in the invasion of the western provinces. As the long column of troops entered the castle in double file, a clacking sound filled the evening. The first corps was made up of the banners; the second of the gunners; the third of the archers; the fourth of spears and lances; the fifth, of swordsmen and halberdiers. The central corps was made up of mounted men and officers who crowded around Hideyoshi. With the drummers, the standard bearers, the military police, the inspectors, the reserve horses, the packhorses, and the scouts, there were about seven thousand five hundred men altogether, and an onlooker could only see that this must be a formidable force indeed.
Kuroda Kanbei stood at the gate of Kasuya Castle and welcomed them. When Hideyoshi saw him, he quickly dismounted and walked up to him with a smile. Kanbei came forward too, with a shout of welcome and his hands extended. Greeting each other like friends who had known each other for years, they walked into the castle, and Kanbei introduced Hideyoshi to his new retainers. Each man gave his own name and swore an oath of loyalty to Hideyoshi.
Among them was one man who seemed to be of excellent character. 'I am Yamanaka Shikanosuke,' he introduced himself, 'one of the few surviving retainers of the Amako clan. Until now we've fought side by side, but in different regiments, so we've never met. But my heart jumped when I heard you were invading the west, and I asked Lord Kanbe to put in a good word for me.'
Even though Shikanosuke was kneeling, head bowed, Hideyoshi could see from the breadth of his shoulders that he was far taller and broader than average. When he stood up, he topped six feet, and he looked to be about thirty years old. His skin was like iron, and his eyes were as piercing as a hawk's. Hideyoshi looked at him for a moment as though he could not quite recall who the man was.
Kanbei helped him out. 'This is a man whose loyalty is rare these days. He formerly served Amako Yoshihisa, a lord ruined by the Mori. For many years he has shown undying devotion and faithfulness in the most adverse circumstances. For the last ten years he has taken part in various battles and wandered from place to place, harassing the Mori with small forces, in an attempt to restore his former lord to his domain.'
'Even I have heard of the loyal Yamanaka Shikanosuke. But what did you mean when you said we've been in different regiments?' Hideyoshi asked.
'During the campaign against the Matsunaga clan, I fought alongside the forces of Lord Mitsuhide at Mount Shigi.'
'You were at Mount Shigi?'
Kanbei once again took up the conversation. 'Those years of loyalty amid such adversity were brought to nought when the Amako were defeated by the Mori. Later, he secretly asked for assistance from Lord Nobunaga through the good offices of Lord Katsuie. It was at the battle at Mount Shigi that Shikanosuke took the head of the fierce Kawai Hidetaka.'
'It was you who struck down Kawai,' Hideyoshi said, as though his doubts were now cleared up, and he looked again at the man, this time with a broad smile.
* *
Hideyoshi very quickly demonstrated the might of his troops. The two castles of Sayo and Kozuki fell, and within the same month he defeated the neighboring Ukita clan, an ally of the Mori. Takenaka Hanbei and Kuroda Kanbei were always at Hideyoshi's side.
The main camp was moved to Himeji. During this time, Ukita Naoie constantly requested reinforcements from the Mori clan. At the same time Naoie gave Makabe Harutsugu, Bizen's bravest warrior, a force of eight hundred men, with which he successfully captured Kozuki Castle.
'This Hideyoshi isn't much, after all,' Makabe bragged.
Kozuki Castle's stores of gunpowder and food were replenished, and fresh troops were sent as reinforcements.
'I suppose we couldn't just let it go,' Hanbei suggested.
'I think not,' Hideyoshi said deliberately. Since coming to Himeji, Hideyoshi had studied the whole situation of the western provinces. 'Whom do you suppose I should send? I think this battle is going to be rough.'
'Shikanosuke is the only choice.'
'Shikanosuke?'
'Kanbei, what do you think?' Hideyoshi asked.
Kanbei voiced his immediate agreement.
Shikanosuke received Hideyoshi's orders, readied his forces during the night, and pressed on toward Kozuki Castle. It was the end of the year and bitterly cold.
Shikanosuke's officers and men were fired with the same zeal as their commander. Sworn to strike down the Mori and to restore Katsuhisa, the head of the Amako clan, they were men of the most loyal courage.
When the Ukita generals heard from their scouts that the enemy was the Amako clan, with Shikanosuke at its head, they were struck with dread. Just hearing the name of Shikanosuke sent them into the kind of terror a small bird might feel in front of a raging tiger.
And there was no doubt that they feared the reports of Shikanosuke's advance far more than they would have feared a direct attack from Hideyoshi himself.
From that standpoint, Shikanosuke was the best man to send against Kozuki Castle. He had, after all, with his singleminded loyalty and courage, wreaked havoc and inspired terror like an angry god. Even the bravest general of the Ukita clan, Makabe Harutsugu, abandoned Kozuki Castle without a fight, figuring he would simply lose too many soldiers if he stayed and opposed Shikanosuke.
By the time Shikanosuke's men entered the castle and reported to Hideyoshi that its capture had been executed without bloodshed, Makabe had already asked for reinforcements. Joining forces with an army led by his brother, to make a combined force of fifteen or sixteen hundred men, Makabe rode forward for a counterattack, stopping in a cloud of dust on a level plain a short distance from the castle.
Shikanosuke looked out from the watchtower. 'It hasn't rained for over two weeks. Let's give them a fiery reception,' he laughed.
Shikanosuke divided his soldiers into two groups. Late that night they made a sortie from the castle, one group of soldiers lighting fires upwind from the enemy and setting the dry grasses ablaze. Surrounded by the brushfires, the Ukita forces were completely routed.
Shikanosuke's second corps now went into action and moved in to annihilate them. No one knew how many of the enemy perished in this massacre, but the enemy commander, Makabe Harutsugu, and his brother were both slain.
